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VaNews Nov. 13, 2019
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Today's Sponsor:


** Craft + Design, Presented by McGuireWoods
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Shop the work of over 150 artists at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond's 55th Annual Craft and Design Show, Presented by McGuireWoods, November 22-24. [link removed]

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** FROM VPAP
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** AUDIO, PHOTOS FROM 'AFTER VIRGINIA VOTES' ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

Speaker Kirk Cox's chief of staff and the Senate Democrats' executive director took the stage in Arlington yesterday for a civil, illuminating discussion about the General Assembly elections. 'After Virginia Votes' was organized by the Virginia Public Access Project and hosted by the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University.


** GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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** REPUBLICANS COULD FILL JUDICIAL VACANCIES BEFORE DEMOCRATS TAKE CONTROL ([link removed])
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By WHITTNEY EVANS, WCVE

Virginia Republicans canceled a special session of the General Assembly that was scheduled for next Tuesday, Nov. 18, to go over gun control proposals following the mass shooting at a Virginia Beach municipal building. But, they haven’t ruled out calling back lawmakers to fill lingering judicial vacancies before the General Assembly reconvenes and Democrats assume power in January. The General Assembly is tasked with interviewing and voting to elect candidates to fill judicial vacancies.


** TWO LOUDOUN COUNTY JUDGES TO RETIRE IN EARLY 2020 ([link removed])
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By TREVOR BARATKO, Loudoun Times

Two Loudoun County General District Court judges are planning to retire in early 2020. Chief Judge Frank Buttery, Jr., and Judge Dean S. Worcester notified the Loudoun County Bar Association of their planned retirements in early November.


** DEMOCRATS’ WINS COULD HELP BRING DOWN CONFEDERATE STATUES ([link removed])
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By SARAH RANKIN, Associated Press

An army of Confederate monuments dots Virginia’s landscape but some of those statues could soon start coming down after Election Day gave Democrats control of the General Assembly for the first time in decades. Members of the new legislative majority say they plan to revive proposals to make it easier to remove the public displays honoring Civil War soldiers and generals


** AFTER YEARS OF PURSUIT, VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS SLOW-WALK RIGHT-TO-WORK REPEAL ([link removed])
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By SEAN HIGGINS, Washington Examiner

Virginia Democrats, who at long last have legislative majorities and the governorship, are having second thoughts about repealing the state’s right-to-work law, according to activists on both sides of the labor issue. “A lot of legislators want to slow-walk their way into repeal while we want to forge ahead,” said Destiny LeVere, communications director for the state branch of the Virginia AFL-CIO. “Some legislators have said, ‘We feel this may not be the right time. There are other things that we can get done, so we shouldn’t be a bull in a china shop.’”


** FIRST FEMALE HOUSE SPEAKER IN VIRGINIA REFLECTS ON NEW ROLE ([link removed])
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By EVAN KOSLOF, WUSA

Delegate Elaine Filler-Corn (D-Fairfax) was watching closely as her party took the majority in both chambers of the General Assembly in Virginia. "It was loud and resounding," Filler-Corn said.


** JUDGE RULES THAT PRIVACY LAWSUIT AGAINST DELEGATE CAN ADVANCE ([link removed])
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By MEL LEONOR, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

An invasion of privacy lawsuit against Del. Dawn Adams, D-Richmond, will move fully toward a trial after a federal district judge on Tuesday denied a request by the lawmaker to toss out most of the claims against her.


** FORMER DEL. MARY T. CHRISTIAN, LONG-SERVING HAMPTON LEGISLATOR AND PROFESSOR, DIES AT 95 ([link removed])
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By MATT JONES, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Mary T. Christian, a champion of education, a groundbreaking Hampton community leader, a longtime delegate and a college professor, died Monday night at age 95.


** HANOVER SCHOOL BOARD VOTES TO ASK GENERAL ASSEMBLY FOR 50% PAY RAISE FOR ITS MEMBERS ([link removed])
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By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The Hanover County School Board wants a raise. The board on Tuesday voted 6-1 to approve a resolution calling for legislation this General Assembly session that could increase its members’ pay by as much as 50%. Board members currently make $8,000; the last raise was in 2006.


** CHARLOTTESVILLE SCHOOL BOARD DISCUSSES NEXT LEGISLATIVE SESSION WITH LAWMAKERS ([link removed])
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By KATHERINE KNOTT, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The Charlottesville School Board, along with other localities, will need to hold Democrats’ feet the proverbial fire next legislative session in order to keep them focused on education, state Sen. Creigh Deeds told board members Tuesday. “If [education is] our top priority, it ought to be our top priority come decision time,” said Deeds, D-Bath.


** FEDERAL ELECTIONS
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** NAVY VET RUNNING TO UNSEAT LURIA ([link removed])
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By MARIE ALBIGES, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

A U.S. Navy veteran who’s run for office before announced Monday he’s seeking the Republican nomination for a congressional seat centered in Virginia Beach. Ben Loyola, who previously ran for the 2nd Congressional District and for state Senate, said in a news release he wasn’t going to “sit around while Democrats try to destroy America by emulating the failed policies that have morally and economically bankrupted countries like Cuba, Venezuela and the former Soviet Union.”


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** CRIME COMMISSION'S REPORT ON GUN VIOLENCE GIVES NO RECOMMENDATIONS ([link removed])
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By AMY FRIEDENBERGER, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

After months of studying the causes of gun violence, the Virginia State Crime Commission issued a report with no recommendations on how to curb the deadly toll in Virginia.


** GUN VIOLENCE COMMISSION ISSUES NO RECOMMENDATIONS ([link removed])
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By MEL LEONOR, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

After thousands of public comments and months of research, a Virginia commission tasked by statehouse Republicans with studying gun violence issued a three-page report Tuesday, offering no recommendations on how lawmakers should broach the issue.


** NO RECOMMENDATIONS AFTER MONTHS OF GUN LAW REVIEW ([link removed])
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By MARIE ALBIGES, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Citing “inconclusive evidence,” a state group tasked with studying gun policy says it can’t give any recommendations on what to do with the 78 bills it received. In a three-page report released Tuesday, the Virginia State Crime Commission staff outlined its review of the legislation filed during the July special session on gun control called by Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, following the Virginia Beach mass shooting.


** VIRGINIA CRIME COMMISSION ADJOURNS WITH NO CONSENSUS ON GUNS ([link removed])
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By GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

The Virginia State Crime Commission studied 78 bills proposed by lawmakers to reduce gun violence and considered 4,145 comments from the public and on Tuesday issued the following conclusion: “Staff determined that inconclusive evidence exists to develop recommendations.” The commission, which Republican lawmakers had charged with studying gun restrictions in the wake of the May 31 mass shooting in Virginia Beach, said the matter was too complicated.


** RIVERSIDE JAIL AUTHORITY HIRED LAW FIRM TO INVESTIGATE NEW SUPERINTENDENT'S MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ([link removed])
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By MARK BOWES, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The governing board of Riverside Regional Jail hired an outside law firm last month to investigate the management practices of the superintendent it hired in April after some senior staff members at the facility raised concerns.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** CAFE VENDOR LAYING OFF NEARLY 300 WORKERS AT RICHMOND-AREA CAPITAL ONE OFFICES ([link removed])
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By KARRI PEIFER, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

A total of 282 workers at the on-site cafes and food service operations at four Richmond-area Capital One offices and one in Chesapeake will be laid off effective Jan. 17.


** NONPROFIT SOON WILL OWN COUNTY’S ONLY NEWSPAPER ([link removed])
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By DON DEL ROSSO, Fauquier Now

In a last-ditch effort to save the county’s only newspaper, the owners of The Fauquier Times essentially have agreed to give the weekly to a journalism foundation based in The Plains. Founded last year, the Piedmont Journalism Foundation will pay Piedmont Media LLC $1,000 for The Fauquier Times, The Prince William Times, a group of specialty magazines and the company’s websites, according two sources.


** TRANSPORTATION
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** NORTHAM JOINS MARYLAND GOVERNOR IN $1 BILLION REGIONAL FIX FOR POTOMAC CROSSING AT AMERICAN LEGION BRIDGE ([link removed])
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By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Gov. Ralph Northam joined hands with Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on Tuesday in a commitment to fix one of the most vexing transportation bottlenecks in the Washington region — the crossing of the Potomac River at the American Legion Bridge. The total project cost is about $1 billion, to be funded through public-private partnerships, with a goal of no public cost, said Alena Yarmosky, a spokeswoman for Northam.


** MD., VA. PARTNER TO REBUILD LEGION BRIDGE, STARTING IN ’22 ([link removed])
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By ROBERT MCCARTNEY, LUZ LAZO AND KATHERINE SHAVER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Maryland and Virginia will partner to rebuild and widen the American Legion Bridge in a billion-dollar project to relieve congestion at the Washington region’s worst traffic bottleneck, the states’ governors announced Tuesday. In an unusual example of interstate cooperation, Virginia has agreed to help pay for the project even though most of the bridge — like the Potomac River flowing beneath it — belongs to Maryland.


** BUS STRIKE IN N.VA. POISED TO SPREAD ([link removed])
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By JUSTIN GEORGE AND LUZ LAZO, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Nearly 40,000 bus riders in Northern Virginia could be without service by month’s end as hundreds of workers move closer to calling the region’s second bus strike, leaving officials scrambling for a contingency plan.


** VIRGINIA OTHER
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** HEAT BECOMING INCREASINGLY HARMFUL TO US MILITARY, INCLUDING VIRGINIA INSTALLATIONS ([link removed])
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By PATRICK LARSEN, WCVE

A new study from the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit research and advocacy group, says that rising heat indexes in the U.S. are a problem for the Military, and it’s only getting worse. The study shows the expected number of days with a heat index of 100 degrees or greater at military bases by midcentury, if carbon emissions stay at the level they’re at today. By midcentury, some bases in the Southeast could see three months per year with such indexes.


** CLIMATE ACTIVIST GRETA THUNBERG TO SAIL TO EUROPE FROM HAMPTON ([link removed])
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Associated Press

Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg will leave North America and begin her return trip across the Atlantic on Wednesday aboard a 48-foot (15-meter) catamaran sailboat whose passengers include an 11-month-old baby. The boat leaves little to no carbon footprint, boasting solar panels and a hydro-generators for power.


** LOCAL
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** VIRGINIA ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE INVESTIGATING LOUDOUN COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOR DISCRIMINATION ([link removed])
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By NATHANIEL CLINE, Loudoun Times

The Virginia attorney general's human rights division is investigating Loudoun County Public Schools for human rights violations involving discrimination. The Loudoun County NAACP this morning announced a Tuesday night press conference at the Loudoun County Public Schools administration building in Ashburn to discuss the investigation, which was sparked by local NAACP leaders.


** VA. ATTORNEY GENERAL PROBING BIAS ALLEGATIONS IN LOUDOUN COUNTY SCHOOLS ([link removed])
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By DEBBIE TRUONG, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

The Virginia attorney general’s office has launched an investigation into the school system in one of the nation’s wealthiest counties after NAACP officials filed a complaint accusing Loudoun County Public Schools of failing to provide African American students equal access to advanced programs.


** TOWN OF HERNDON MOVES TO REGULATE E-SCOOTERS ([link removed])
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By FATIMAH WASEEM, Reston Now

The Herndon Town Council is considering plans to regulate electric scooters. The proposal, which would require companies to seek licenses and permits to operate scooters in the town, is part of a statewide push to enact licensing requirements throughout the state.


** PURCELLVILLE DISCLOSES POTENTIAL DATA BREACH ([link removed])
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By JUSTIN JOUVENAL, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Sensitive personal data from 1,800 people from across the D.C. area, including crime victims, law enforcement officials and people who filed police reports, may have been obtained by a felon who claimed to have the entire email inbox of the Purcellville police chief.


** BUCHANAN’S FHS REMARKS PROMPT OFFICIAL APOLOGY ([link removed])
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Fauquier Now

The school board and administrators Tuesday apologized for remarks that former U.S. Treasury Secretary Angela “Bay” Buchanan, a conservative political commentator, made during a Veterans Day assembly with the student body at Fauquier High. A barrage of complaints from students and parents followed Ms. Buchanan’s remarks about abortion and feminism.


** RICHMOND CITY COUNCIL APPROVES MANDATORY REPORTING LAW FOR LOST OR STOLEN FIREARMS ([link removed])
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By ROBERTO ROLDAN, WCVE

People in the City of Richmond will now be required to report lost or stolen firearms to police. Richmond City Council voted unanimously to approve the ordinance Tuesday night. It was introduced by Mayor Levar Stoney last month. The new ordinance will require Richmond residents whose guns are lost or stolen to report it to the police within 24 hours. Similar state-wide reporting standards were proposed in the General Assembly earlier this year, but it was never voted on.


** 53% OF VOTERS HEADED TO THE POLLS LAST TUESDAY ([link removed])
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By MELODY KINSER, Mechanicsville Local

While Democrats swept through the commonwealth on Tuesday, Nov. 5, to regain control of the Senate and House of Delegates in the Virginia General Assembly, Hanover County voters stayed close to their conservative roots. And they headed to the polls in significant numbers. “Historically, local elections in Hanover have maintained a 25% turnout on average, but this election was closer to a gubernatorial with 53% voter turnout,” Voter Registrar/Director of Elections Teresa “Teri” Smith said.


** ELEVATED LEVELS OF LEAD FOUND IN 9 ADDITIONAL SITES IN VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOLS ([link removed])
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WAVY

Virginia Beach officials say nine additional sites in Virginia Beach City Public Schools were found with elevated levels of lead. The elevated levels of lead were initially misidentified at nine schools as “non-drinking and food prep sources.” Updated information from the school division shows those sources were actually used for consumable water.


** SALEM CITY COUNCIL MOVES VOTING LOCATIONS ([link removed])
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By ALISON GRAHAM, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

All city residents will now vote at the Salem Civic Center for the May city council elections and the June primary elections. The city’s electoral board determined the costs associated with staffing and running polling locations during the May and June elections was an “extraordinary burden” on the treasury because voter turnout is much lower than general elections.

Today's Sponsor:


** Craft + Design, Presented by McGuireWoods
------------------------------------------------------------

Shop the work of over 150 artists at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond's 55th Annual Craft and Design Show, Presented by McGuireWoods, November 22-24. [link removed]


** EDITORIALS
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** BUTLER SET A STANDARD TODAY'S CONGRESS SHOULD FOLLOW ([link removed])
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Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

We all walk in the footsteps of those who came before us. We acknowledge this colloquially when we talk about someone having “big shoes to fill” when they take on a position held by someone previously considered a giant in their field. This phrase seems uniquely applicable to whomever holds the 6th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, because that occupant will forever— at least in the memory of those living— be measured against the service of the late U.S. Rep. Caldwell Butler, a Republican from Roanoke.


** REGIONAL JAIL PROBLEMS REQUIRE URGENCY ([link removed])
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Daily Press Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

A recent Virginian-Pilot report that found Portsmouth has spent millions for inmate beds at the Hampton Roads Regional Jail illustrates a pressing problem for that city, which routinely struggles to make ends meet.


** VIRGINIANS' ELECTRICITY BILLS WILL BE GOING UP ([link removed])
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Free Lance-Star Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

In the past, Virginians have largely taken their relatively cheap and reliable electricity for granted. As of August, residents of the commonwealth paid an average of 12.36 cents per kilowatt hour, which is below the national average of 13.3 cents/kwh, and far below the 31.16 cents/kwh Hawaiians paid for their electricity. Virginia currently ranks 22nd in the nation for the cost of electricity.


** A CHOKEPOINT UNSNARLED? ([link removed])
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Washington Post Editorial (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

The American Legion Bridge over the Potomac, one of the Eastern seaboard’s worst traffic chokepoints, is set to get drastically worse as the region’s population grows. Better late than never, the governors of Virginia and Maryland have devised a blueprint for a new bridge, with expanded capacity in the form of optional toll lanes, that would shift the $1 billion cost to a private contractor. It’s a serious plan that can work if officials get the details and politics right.


** COLUMNISTS
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** WILLIAMS: RICHMOND CITY COUNCIL MAY BE ABOUT TO RUN OUT OF EXCUSES ON CONFEDERATE MONUMENTS. ([link removed])
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By MICHAEL PAUL WILLIAMS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

You might assume that the blue wave that swept Democrats into a majority in the Virginia General Assembly will eventually crash upon Confederate monuments, washing them from our public landscape. Perhaps you’ve concluded that a repeal of the state law protecting war memorials from removal, modification or reinterpretation would have localities salivating at the prospect of gaining control of their own properties.


** GALSTON: THE VIRGINIAS MOVE IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS ([link removed])
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By WILLIAM A. GALSTON, Wall Street Journal (Subscription Required)

It is a tale of two Virginias—and a microcosm of America’s shifting political landscape. In 1988 Michael Dukakis lost the national popular vote to George H.W. Bush, 53% to 46%. Bush performed even better in Virginia than he did nationally, taking the Old Dominion by a margin of 60% to 39%. But in West Virginia, the Massachusetts governor—no one’s idea of a populist firebrand—defeated Bush, 52% to 47%.


** OP-ED
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** MEAGHER: THE LIMITS OF THE DEMOCRATIC VICTORY ([link removed])
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By RICHARD J. MEAGHER, Published in the Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Virginia Democrats have to be happy with the results of this year’s election; they gained full control of the state legislature for the first time in decades. So they won. Now what? In some ways, Democrats might be feeling like the dog who caught the car.

Meagher is Associate Professor of Political Science at Randolph-Macon College.


** MOORE: RATEPAYERS BEWARE ON DOMINION'S OFFSHORE WIND PROJECT ([link removed])
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By HULLIHEN WILLIAMS MOORE, Published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

In September, Dominion Energy announced its $7.8 billion offshore wind proposal with more than 200 giant windmills to be located 27 miles off Virginia’s coast. It is to be the largest such facility in the nation. It sounds great unless you are a ratepayer who may have to pick up the tab.

Moore is a former member and chair of the Virginia State Corporation Commission and the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board.
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